UK: Statin drugs for all adults?
Proposed guidelines for cholesterol-lowering statins
Proposed new guidelines in the UK recommend cholesterol-lowering statins to all adults if “the person is happy to take a statin”.
Normally, people with a 10% or higher risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years are eligible for statins in the UK.
But now, draft guidelines proposed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) say that doctors may prescribe statins to anyone over the age of 18, even if their risk of heart disease falls below the 10% threshold.
The draft guidelines are currently in consultation, with an expected final publication date of 17 May 2023.